ALMOST every elite player is heading for the Georgian capital of Tbilisi for the FIDE World Cup, a 128-player knockout with a $1,280,000 prize fund (?998,000) that qualifies two players for the Candidates tournament in 2018 that will decide who will be Magnus Carlsen’s next challenger. Play begins on Sunday and can be followed live on the usual portals.

For the first time, England has three representatives, with Michael Adams qualifying on rating, while David Howell and Gawain Jones made it through after fine performances at the European Individual Championships in June.

The 2015 World Cup final was one of the most dramatic matches in recent times. Peter Svidler eventually lost to Sergey Karjakin in a Blitz tie-break having been 2-0 up in a best of four game match.